Introductions
Prologue A young warrior with stars in her fur padded softly through a dense greenleaf forest. The full moon was shining silver on the smooth ground. She was looking for a particular cat, though she had never met him. Suddenly a small, pale tabby appeared in front of her. "Looking for someone, Windspirit?" asked the tabby. "W-who are you?" she stammered. "H-how do you know my name?" "You've certainly heard of me," he said, settling on a patch of moss. "Mostly the nursery stories. He killed one of his own warriors, led his Clan into darkness, starting the reputation of IceClan as heartless killers." "L-l-littlestar?" The young warrior cautiously approached him. He laughed a bit. "Yes. Now, remember that legends never tell the whole truth. All of the humiliation, all of the heartbreak, all of the love that I felt get glossed over. The stories just love to paint a cat as evil from the start, ignoring the deeper story of how they ''got that way. How'd you like to hear the parts the nursery tales leave out?"'' The young warrior thought for a bit. It ''was what she had been about to ask him anyway.'' "Yes, I think so." "Well, sit down here. Don't worry- I wouldn't hurt you, even if I could." Windspirit settled down nervously. The old IceClan leader thought for a bit about how to begin. "Well," he said, clearing his throat and tucking his paws under his chest, "I was just a young warrior. Littleclaw was my name back then..." Chapter 1 Littleclaw padded through the forest, halfheartedly stalking a pigeon. His mind was really on the ginger she-cat hunting several fox-lengths away. How her fur shone in the sunlight, how her eyes sparkled from the thrill of the hunt... A fluffy white apprentice exploded from out of a clump of ferns, scaring off the pigeon and making the tabby warrior jump. "I waited for you at the training hollow!" exclaimed the apprentice. "Are you just too mouse-hearted to fight your nemesis?" "So, you really think you're my nemesis," said Littleclaw in between licks of his ruffled fur. "That's adorable, actually. But Snowpaw, I really don't have time for every apprentice with delusions of grandeur. I have more important things to do." He padded off, ignoring the other cat's indignant mewing. Littleclaw entered the warriors' den, where Waterstripe was trying to lick his fur dry. "Fell in a stream again?" asked Littleclaw. His friend nodded with a twitch of his whiskers. "I saw Flowerheart today," he continued. "Did you talk to her?" "Almost," said Littleclaw. "Just a couple moons away from a real conversation." "Oh, did you hear?" said Waterstripe, remembering something. "Duskfoot will probably be retiring soon." "Really? Great! Now-" "You do know that you're probably, like, at the bottom of Hawkstar's list of potential deputies, right?" Waterstripe interrupted his friend's premature celebration. "Not if my plans work out," replied Littleclaw. "Oh, and thanks for reminding me of something." He rushed out of the warriors' den. "Will you need any help?" called Waterstripe. "Thanks," said Littleclaw over his shoulder, "but I should do this alone." Chapter 2 Flowerheart stood at the entrance to the IceClan camp in the late evening light. She had been trying to talk to someone, anyone, but the warriors just brushed her off. Then she saw a familiar-looking tabby tom trot in, dragging some brambles in his mouth. "Could you spare some of your time?" she asked, hurrying after him. Then she remembered his name. "Hey, you're Littleclaw! What are you doing?" The tabby tom's heart raced. "Er... building up the camp walls," he stammered without looking at Flowerheart. "It's very important, or I would be stopping to have a conversation with you at this moment." "Well, can I talk to you about something important?" she asked. Littleclaw thought quickly and put down the brambles. "Sure, go ahead." "Well, the elders' den is in a rather poor condition, and I was thinking..." Littleclaw could tell that the conversation was going to take a while, so he tried to slip away and get back to preparing his trap, tuning out what she was saying. "...and then we could get them to grow spikes and wings, and then they'd turn into flying hedgehogs and live on the moon," said Flowerheart, noticing Littleclaw's divided attention. "You don't really care about how poorly the elders are being treated, do you?" "Well, yes," insisted the tabby warrior, padding up the slope of the camp. "But their condition is like a fever. And you're just treating a fever while the greencough continues to weaken the Clan. They say that fish rot from the head, so I was thinking that maybe we could cut off the head..." "...of IceClan?" asked Flowerheart. "...it's not a perfect analogy, but I think that it would be a good idea to maybe put different cats in charge." An awkward pause. "All I'm asking is for you to help out with rebuilding the den." "Oh, uh sure. See you there tomorrow." Littleclaw silently cursed himself as the slope grew steeper and rockier. Why did she have to talk to me ''now? Great StarClan, I'm mousebrained.'' Chapter 3 Suddenly, Littleclaw felt the rocks under him giving way. He fell into the roots of a gnarled pine tree while a large rock tumbled down the slope, toward camp. As though on cue, a large, handsome gray tom popped out of the warriors' den and jumped at the boulder, trying to change its course. This he did, but now Flowerheart was right in its path. "Wait!" cried Littleclaw. The ginger she-cat looked up and, with a caterwaul of fear, tried to outrun the rock. "No need to fear, young she-cat!" called the gray tom heroically. He pushed Flowerheart into the fresh-kill pile while Littleclaw threw himself at the rock, managing to stop it just before it hit the camp walls. Shaking the dust off of her fur, Flowerheart padded up to the gray tom and stared deeply into his eyes. "Th-thank you," she stammered. "You saved my life." "What?" cried Littleclaw from the side in disbelief. "Oh, no need to thank me, Flowerheart. Stonepelt is always willing to save whoever needs saving." Stonepelt returned her gaze. "Quit looking at her like that!" "You just came running out of the warriors' den..." "Didn't you notice that he threw you in the fresh-kill pile?" "I think I'm in love," said Stonepelt softly. Littleclaw stormed off in disgust. "Fox-dung." Category:Fan Fictions Category:Ravenflight's Fanfictions